Album Review

Album covers and promo pics depict them as a trio, but the Raindrops were contractually a duo comprised of the songwriting couple Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. A crew of session singers accompanied the pair in the studio. This early best-of album features 20 songs mostly written by the pair, including their hits and songs they wrote that hit for others, like "Da Doo Ron Ron," on which they jam better than the Crystals. They even knock off Jesse Stone's "Don't Let Go." The Raindrops are easy to listen to and are prime examples of the simplistic brilliance of early-'60s Brill Building material and teen pop. If not for their songwriting successes and preference to stay behind the scenes, they would have had a string of hits. The camera-shy duo seldom made personal appearances or had write-ups in teen magazines. A later CD with 23 tracks competes with this collection, which is now available on CD as well.

Biography

Formed: New York, NY

Genre: Pop

Years Active: '60s

The Raindrops are, on one level, little more than a footnote in the much broader musical careers of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. On the other hand, as a studio singing group, they assembled one of the more impressive bodies of popular vocal music of the early '60s to come out of that edifice known as the Brill Building, the early-'60s successor to Tin Pan Alley of the 1920s, which...